Batman takes over at Yahoo

The man who produced "Batman" and other

high-budget movies at Warner Bros has been put in charge of Yahoo. Terry Semel

was named Chairman and CEO, replacing Tim Koogle, who will quit his executive

role in August.

Originally, Koogle had vowed to stay on as Chairman when

he announced his plans to step aside as CEO last month. But Semel apparently

insisted he needed full control of Yahoo and Yahoo's board agreed. Koogle will

remain Vice Chairman until August. His future after that is not defined but will

almost certainly be outside Yahoo.

At Yahoo! Semel faces the difficult task of reviving

advertising sales and find new sources of revenue to reverse a steep sales and

earnings decline that has also reduced Yahoo's Wall Street book value by more

than $ 100 billion from its peak market value in early 2000. As part of his

decision to join, Semel bought one million shares of Yahoo! in a private

placement yesterday at $ 17.62 each.

The appointment of a Hollywood veteran immediately led

to widespread speculation that Semel will be able to set up Yahoo to be sold to

a major media conglomerate such as the Walt Disney Co or Viacom. Semel insisted

he only wants to expand Yahoo! rather than prep it for a sale. He hopes to

achieve this by using Yahoo's brand name to move into new services and raising

the companies visibility among potential advertisers. "I see Yahoo! as a

foundation for a company getting to the next level."

Semel, along with Robert Daly ran the Warner Bros studio

for the past two decades. During that time, Warner Bros was Hollywood's most

consistently profitable studio.